It's officially Breeders' Cup prep season

POSTED Sep 21, 2012
By
Ed DeRosa

The Breeders' Cup prep races that will receive the most attention are those held five and four weeks out from the World Championships on November 2-3 at Santa Anita Park, but this week's races will surely produce some BC starters and maybe even a couple favorites should Questing and/or Turbulent Descent win their races--the Cotillion and Gallant Bloom, respectively.The Cotillion has taken some lumps for its field-to-purse ratio, and it is surprising that so many three-year-old fillies would line up for $400,000 at Charles Town and not have at least cross entered at Parx where third and beyond in the Cotillion are still running for $200,000, but I also can't fault connections for not wanting to face the aforementioned Questing or the undefeated champion My Miss Aurelia.I'm finding it very difficult to take a stand with either filly, but I'm certainly not using more than those two (which granted is half the field). Questing will certainly be favored, but I think they'll be close in price. If somehow MMA is 2-to-1 I'd bet her to win.My views on the remaining players on the three-year-old scene are known, and I doubt anything that happens in the Pennsylvania Derby will change that, but it is a fun race with the Travers rematch and Mucho Macho and some intriguing longshots including Handsome Mike.The Gallant Bloom is a Grade 2 in name only and would be a worthy Grade 1 prep for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. Groupie Doll is certainly the favorite for that race, but if Turbulent Descent freaked out the Pletcher-Coolmore connection could generate enough handle to make her the favorite. Regardless, of all the races this weekend, this is the one I'm most interested in from a Breeders' Cup perspective.

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TwinSpires' horse racing author, handicapper, and podcast host, Derek Simon of Denver, Colo. offers his insightful, humorous and sometimes controversial take on the horse racing industry. He even publishes the ROI on the picks he gives out.

The Director of Marketing for Bloodstock Research Information Services (BRIS) and a lifelong Thoroughbred racing enthusiast and astute handicapper, Ed joined Churchill Downs Inc. following nine years as a writer and editor with Thoroughbred Times.

A writer and editor who has been following horse racing for fifteen years. Peter has written books for the Daily Racing Form Press; Crown; and Simon and Schuster; among other publishers, and regular features in The Horseplayer Magazine.